We’ve previously looked at places such as Fort Knox, Area 51, Air force One and the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Of all of these have places have just one thing in common; they are all heavily guarded and protected.

We’ve looked at even more of these well guarded and secure locations – enjoy!

Bold Lane Car Park

You hear a lot of horror stories about people having their cars stolen from public car parks, or coming back to find that someone has broken into it. Luckily for those parking at Bold Lane Cark Park in Derby, this is a problem that they never have to worry about.

Described as being the ‘Fort Knox’ of car parks, it’s definitely a location in which you wouldn’t think twice about leaving your car. You can’t enter the car park without a ticket indicating which exact car spot you are parked in, and once parked in there; your car is protected by motion sensors and alarms. Your car can’t move an inch without the sensors picking up on it – so forget anyone stealing it. There is also good quality CCTV cameras and panic buttons.

Bank of England Gold Vault

This is the UKs largest gold vault and is only second to the Federal Reserve Bank in the USA. It is thought to contain over 4,600 tons of gold – this is the reason for why it’s so heavily guarded.  Security includes a bomb-proof door that can only be unlocked by using a voice recognition system and then two or three keys. It’s exactly sure how far down the vault is buried in the Bank of England building, but it’s been said to have more floor space than a 47 storey building.

HavenCo

Located in the North Sea, about six miles off the coast of Britain; HavenCo is considered one of the most secure locations in the world. The company base was founded back in 2000, but was shut down back in 2008. The company were one which provided data protection to thousands of important people. You had to be an authorised staff member to enter the base. The fact that it was located in the middle of the North Sea was almost enough security in itself – someone would have to be brave to try access it.

We can’t promise security quite like the ones mentioned above, but we can secure your property against burglary. As professional locksmiths in Kent, we offer a range of security solutions that can help secure your home or business.

For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can ring us on 0208 471 9000 and we will be more than happy to help you out.

Here at AFS Security Systems, our number one priority is keeping you and your property safe. That’s why we are fascinated and intrigued by the locations that are considered to be the most secure places in the whole world.

Here is our guide to some of these intriguing places. 

Fort Knox

Fort Knox is home to the US Bullion Depository. This is where thousands of tons of gold is stored, along with a host of important historical documents – including the Declaration of Independence.

It is based in Kentucky, and is surrounded by a military camp. However, this isn’t where the security measures end. If you managed to somehow get past the military, you would then be faced with blast-proof doors complete with electronic security locks.

Past this door? A massive 250 ton vault door. Good luck!

Area 51

Area 51 is a mysterious US Air Force base that is located somewhere in the Nevada desert. It is so heavily guarded that flying over it isn’t even possible. In fact, it’s not included on any map and, for most people, finding it would be practically impossible.

Only specific authorised personnel are permitted to enter, and no one is allowed to talk about what actually happens within.

A lot of people think that it plays host to anything to do with UFOs and aliens.

Federal Reserve Bank in New York

This bank is considered as housing around 25% of the world’s gold. Therefore, it isn’t a surprise that it is one of the most secure places in the world.

The vault that holds the gold is located eighty feet below street level and fifty feet below sea level.  The gold also has the extra protection of being locked behind a 90 ton steel door.

For those who attempt to raid the place? There are armed officers surrounding the perimeter at all times.

The Mormon Church’s Secret Vaults

The Mormon Church’s vault is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and is located in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah.

What makes this a secure location? Well, it was built 600-feet into the side of a giant rock. It was also constructed to withstand any kind of nuclear blast, and even has steel doors which are designed to seal tighter if they are impacted.

The vaults are rumoured to be protected by both tempered climate control, and motion and heat sensors.

What makes it even more of a mystery? It’s close to impossible to get photos of the vaults. In fact, a rare image surfaced in 1962 and there has been nothing since. 

Whilst we can’t promise security solutions as extreme as the ones in place above, we pledge to give it our very best shot.

Here at AFS Security, our ultimate priority is to keep you safe by making sure that your home or office has the finest security equipment possible. If you are looking to ‘Fort Knox’ your property, and need a locksmith in East London, please do not hesitate to get in touch. You can ring us on 0208 471 9000 and a member of our staff will be happy to help.

Jeremiah Chubb

Jeremiah Chubb was born in 1793, in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. His elder brother Charles (b. 1779) was apprenticed as a blacksmith before entering business in Winchester as a ships’ ironmonger; Jeremiah joined his brother’s business, which would later branch out into lockmaking and become the famous Chubb Company.

A Robbery at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard

In 1817, a serious robbery occurred at the busy naval dockyard in Portsmouth. The perpetrators had used false keys to make their entry; the ease with which this could be done unnerved the British Government no end. It was, after all, only a couple of years since the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. To increase their security, they decided to offer a competition; a reward of £100 (equivalent to roughly £8,000 in today’s money) to anybody who could design an unpickable lock which could only be opened with its own key.

Jeremiah Chubb built on the earlier achievements of Robert Barron and Joseph Bramah to develop his entry in the contest; a four-lever lock with a special security feature. If anyone were to attempt to open it with the wrong key, or try to pick it, an automatic jamming mechanism would be triggered. In order to proceed, this mechanism would need to be reset with either a special regulator key or the original key, turned in a different direction.

(Image from Wikimedia Commons)

Not only did this mechanism prevent access by unauthorised users, it also meant that the owner would be alerted to the fact that the lock had been tampered with.

Testing the Lock

Of course, the lock had to be tested, and in order to ensure that the testing was done thoroughly, the Government chose a tester with an unusual incentive towards success; a convict on one of the prison hulks in Portsmouth Docks. He was a locksmith by trade prior to his conviction, had successfully picked every lock he had been presented with, and was confident he could do the same with Chubb’s lock. He was promised a free pardon from the Government for his crimes, plus £100 from Jeremiah himself, if he could do so.

After two or three months trying, he admitted defeat. Thus, Jeremiah Chubb claimed the Government’s reward and sealed his reputation.

Manufacture and Development

Off the back of this success, the Chubb brothers launched the Chubb Company, moving to Wolverhampton which was then the lockmaking capital of Great Britain. Whilst the general principles of the lock remained the same, a number of improvements were made over the years. In 1824, a new patent was issued for a version which no longer required a special regulator key to reset a tampered lock, and by 1847 they were producing six-lever versions. Another innovation was a “curtain” which would allow the key to pass into the lock but restrict the field of view, thus preventing any would-be lockpicker from getting a clear view of the levers within. They also began to produce padlocks using the Chubb lock.

The Unpickable Reputation

The reputation of the Chubb’s lock as an unpickable system was such that it was even referenced in fiction. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used the Chubb lock as a clue for his iconic detective Sherlock Holmes, once in A Scandal in Bohemia and once in The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez, in both instances using the Chubb name to establish that a particular lock could not have been picked.

In fact, the Chubb lock remained entirely unpicked only until 1851, when rival locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs, inventor of the Protector lock, managed to pick both the six-lever Chubb lock and the Bramah Challenge Lock during the Great Exhibition.

Here at AFS Security, we may not be as well known as Chubb was in his day, but we are reliable, expert locksmiths in East London. If you need security for your home or business, we will be more than happy to help. Simply contact us on 0208 471 9000 today.

For example, the Romans relied heavily on their livestock. They used animals such as geese to alert them of any danger. They believed that intruders could easily sneak pass guard dogs or subdue them quickly, rendering them a useless form of security. They alleged that the sound that geese would make upon being interrupted would definitely wake them up and allow them to intercept any trouble.

Whilst we are sure that this worked on occasion, we think it probably didn’t hold the same degree of safety that a modern day alarm system does.

But where did the alarm system originate? And how long has it been used as a security method?

Here we will answer these questions as we take a quick look back at the history of the alarm system.

Early 1700s – A British inventor was responsible for creating the earliest model of the alarm system. Mr Tildesley worked out that by attaching chimes mechanically to his door lock, he would be alerted whenever someone attempted to open the door. This was a good idea, but we can imagine that the sound of the chimes got pretty annoying at times.

1800s – American inventor Augustus Russell Pope was the next person to make steps towards creating an alarm system, with his invention being a slight improvement on Tildesley’s.

His system operated from a battery, and relied on electricity, magnets and a bell. He mounted the bell on top of the door frame in the wall, with the idea that when it was used, an electric current would surge through a magnet and cause vibrations. He then had wires that ran from a spring in the door through a circuit breaker, which would permit the current to sound persistently when the door tripped the spring.

This system proved successful and Pope was issued a patent number for his device.

1850s – Pope becomes very ill and before dying, he sells his alarm system to Edwin Holmes. Edwin decides to take the business to NYC.

Improvements were then made to the system by a man called George Milliken. He redesigned the system to reside in the room where the homeowner sleeps. He also created springs for all doors and windows that were able to signify specific rings of the bell, so that the owner would know exactly where and when someone had entered.

1900s – The business was bought from Holmes by The American Telephone and Telegraph Company, who wanted to use it as a form of emergency call systems for the public sector.

They designed motion sensors, which implemented ultrasound waves and infrared technology.

Today – Alarms in houses are now mostly run through a wireless system, and come in a variety of types and sizes. Although generally wireless, people can still opt to have a system that is directly wired to their home electricals.

Modern day alarm systems are continuing to raise levels of public safety far beyond what early inventors like Pope could have imagined. 

We hope that you find the history of the home alarm system as fascinating as we do. However, what we find even more exciting is the way that these systems are continuing to keep home owners safe from intrusions. Here at AFS Security, your safety is our number one priority. We achieve this by making sure that your home or office has the best security equipment possible. If you want to improve your property’s safety and are looking for a locksmith in Kent or the surrounding areas, please contact us today by calling 0208 471 9000 to speak to a member of our helpful team.

Last month, we announced that we would be running a series that looked at some of the most extraordinary robberies that have ever taken place. In part one, we told you all about the Knightsbridge Security Deposit Robbery, where over 60 million was stolen from a safe deposit centre in London.

This time, we have turned our attention to a robbery that took place in February 2006 at a cash management depot in Kent, England.

The Securitas Depot Robbery is known as the largest cash robbery in British history, with the thieves stealing around £53,116,760 in bank notes (belonging to the Bank of England).

How It Began

The robbery started on the evening of February 21^st, when the manager of the depot was abducted whilst out driving in his car.

Colin Dixon was driving home from work at about 6pm when he was signalled to pull over by what seemed to be an unmarked police car. Following the rules, Dixon pulled over and waited for a man who was dressed as a police officer to approach him. He was then told to get in the back of their car, and still believing that the man was with the police, he did as he was told. Once he was inside the car, he was handcuffed and threatened at gun point.

Dixon feared for his life as he was driven westwards down the M20 motorway and transferred into a white van.

Meanwhile, at his home, his wife and young son had also been taken hostage and were being held at gunpoint. The family were eventually taken to the same place, where Dixon was told that any failure in assisting with their robbery would end with his family getting severely hurt.

The Robbery

The Dixon family were driven to the depot with seven armed men, who were in possession of a whole host of guns, including handguns, shotguns and Ak-47s.

They, along with the staff who were working in the depot, were bound by the robbers whilst the robbery was carried out.

It took around an hour and 45 minutes to clear a massive chunk of the depot, before they locked their hostages in cash cages and made a getaway with the £54m of bank notes.

Luckily, a member of the staff still had a key on their person, and they were able to free everyone else from the cages once they were certain that they were safe.

Arrests

The officers in charge of investigating The Securitas Depot Robbery made their first arrest only days later. It didn’t take much longer to connect the robbery to more people, and by Saturday 25^th February, two more people had been arrested.

A long investigation followed with even more arrests, but the results satisfied those who were kidnapped during the heist. Six men were put before the courts, and between them they got sentenced to a total of 156 years in prison.

Months after the trial, a man who had fled to Morocco shortly after the robbery was jailed for ten years, which was later extended to 25 years.

Lee Murray escaped to North Africa days after the heist and claimed nationality, due to his father being Moroccan. He had previously been able to avoid extradition to the UK during the other trials, so it was a huge relief when he was finally prosecuted for his part in the robbery.

Whilst we enjoy reading about these crazy robberies of the past, it isn’t something we want to hear about happening to any of our readers. Here at AFS Security, our ultimate priority is to keep you safe by making sure that your home or office has the best security equipment possible. If you want to improve your property’s safety and are looking for a locksmith in Kent or the surrounding areas, please contact us today by calling 0208 471 9000 to speak to a member of our team.